Introduction to free range chicken growing
Free range is a method of raising animals where they are allowed to roam freely instead of being confined in any manner. Farmers usually perform free range practice in order to improve the liveliness of their animals by allowing them to stay in their natural habitat, to improve the fertility of the land where the animals are ranged, to produce high quality meat product and lastly to reduce feed cost. This is how our own native chickens are being grown by using the free range method...
With regards to the taste of our own native chicken, they are indeed more delicious and healthier to eat than chickens from poultry farms. The reason behind this is due to the difference in method of growing. The poultry farm chickens are contained in huge cages were they are crowding while free range chickens are grown in spacious fields with free flowing air. Poultry farm chickens are fed with commercial feeds that is full of artificial additives and growth enhancers while free range chickens finds their own food in the field where they range...
These differences makes free range chickens such as our own native chickens more delicious and healthier to eat than its poultry farm chicken counterpart. Then the question is why don't we move towards free range chicken such as our own native chicken if it offers more benefits than its commercial counterpart?? The answer is because we all know that our own native chicken genetically has a slow growing characteristic. Normally it takes a year for its weight to grow up to a kilo!! This is the reason why native chickens are often expensive to buy because its not easy to grow them to a marketable weight...
If that is the characteristic of our own native chicken, then why not subject poultry farm chicken to free range in order to combine the best of both worlds?? This is not genetically feasible because these type of chickens has low resistance to sickness especially if they are subjected to harsh conditions in the field. Their method of growing is already a proof that they are not genetically strong because they require confined shelters and requires also chemical support in order to battle infections...
The solution to this is to find a breed of chicken that has an excellent growth characteristic and and has strong genetic resistance to infections.
This the main objective of this forum which is to showcase free range chickens... It involves taking care of day old chicks (DOC), growing them in free range and harvesting them to market... This will also serve as a site where different free range chicken growers can showcase there stock and as an avenue where consumers can find free range chicken suppliers.
